Steam stool-sterilizer



{SHEETS-SHEET 1.

II I 1 I I ll ll| |ll Patented Dec. 16,1919.

2mm 'lllll'u sum STOOL srsmuzea, APPLICATION FILED novila. um.

6101 1 71 Zine G. 0. WHITNEY AND A. W. LDE. STEAM STOOL STERILIZER.Q

APPLICYATION FILED NOV. 13, I917.

Patented Dec. 16, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE 0. WHITNEY A'Nn ARTHUR w. IDE, 0E BEAINEED, MI vNEsoTA.

sTEAM sTooL-sTEEILIzEE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 13, 1917. Serial No. 201,819.

invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to a stool sterilizer for railway coaches andvarious other places. The object of this invention is primarily tofurnish means whereby all soil fromthe closets of railway cars may besterilized and thereby rendered free from infectious dis ease organismsas unsterilized excretions from persons suffering from typhoid fever andother diseases deposited along railway right of way may be washed byrain into nearby wells or streams and pollute the water supply of farms,towns and cities and expose public health to grave danger from suchsource of contamination. This invention is designed to furnish apractical method of correcting this evil and rendering this materialsterile and free from all living organisms and in this manner thepresent faulty method of disposal of sewage may be corrected and thepublic health conserved.

A further object of the invention is to furnish means by which theclosets of trains may be kept open and ready for use at all times and toenable the discharges from the plumbing of coaches to be caught in asuitable receptacle located beneath the car and adapted aftersterilization to be diunped at will by an attendant This will obviatethedanger of contamination of stations, plat' forms and places whereemployees are required to work and it will reduce the amount of care andwork which the attendant now necessarily gives to these toilets. Afurther object of the invention is to equip the stool sterilizer with anindicator so that the attendant, instead of frequently locking andunlocking the doors. of the toilets, may observethe indicator and dumpthe tank when necessary at the proper place.

It is also an object of the invention to enable the soil to be saved andused for fertilizer and to provide a construction not only adapted foruse in railway coechestand other water closet of a car.

. public conveyances, but which may be advantageously employed inhospitals and other places where patients suffering-from diseases arecongregated and where excretions, unless properly sterilized,are asource of danger to the public.

WVith these and other objects in view, the lnvention consists in theconstruction and novel combination of. parts hereinafter fullydescribed, illustrated inthe accompanying drawings and pointed out inthe claim hereto appended; it being understood that'various changes inthe form, proportion, size and minor details of construction, within thescope of the claim, may be resorted to without departing from thespirit-or sacrificing any of the advantages of the-invention.

' In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a steam sterilizerconstructed'in accordance with this invention.

Fig. 2is an end elevation 'ofthe same.

Fig. 3is a horizontal sectional view.

Fig. 4 is a detail view of the dumping lever.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the same and the rotary valve member.

Fig. 6 is a detail sectional-viewillustrating the constructionof theindicator.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding'parts in all thefigures of the drawings. I v 7 In the accompanying drawings,in which isillustratedthe preferred cmbodimentof the invention, the steamsterilizer comprises in its construction a substantially oblong tank 1designed to be located beneath the The tank 1 is 'provided'in its topwall with an opening 1 to receive the lower .end 1 of a stool of anywell known or preferred construction. The stool connection may be at anyconvenient point through the top of the tank and the latter may be ofanydesired size to suit requirements and, while the device is espe-. ciallyadapted for use on cars and other con- PatentedDec."16, 1919.v

cy i al, is p atthe -b t imn 1 it in+ terior is tapered to provide atapering valve chamber 6 for the tapered valve member 5. The valvemember 5 consists of a tapered shell having a horizontal top wall andprovided with a vertical outlet opening 8 adapted to be carried by therotary movement of the valve member into register with the outlet 3 ofthe tank 1. The lower end of the rotary valve member 5 is open for thedischarge of the contents of the sterilizer tank.

The valve member 5 is provided at the top with a central vertical stem 9extending through a central opening 10 in the top wall of the valvecasing and provided with a head 11 at the upper end. The lower portionof the stem receives a coiled spring 12 interposed between the top ofthe valve casing and a collar 13 which fits against a pin 14 to form astop for the upper end of the coiled spring. The coiled spring isadapted to urge the valve member upwardly into tight engagement with thevalve casing to prevent any leakage from the sterilizer tank when thevalve is closed.

The upper portion of the valve stem is mounted in a stand 15 and thehead 11, which is located at the top of the stand, is bifurcated at 16for the reception of a lever 17 pivoted by a pin 18 or other suitablefastening device in the slot or bifurcation and having a projecting heelportion 19 adapted to be swung into engagement with the rear wall 20 ofthe bifurcation when the lever is raised from a depending verticalposition to a horizontal osition. The top of the stand is provided withstops 21 for limiting the horizontal swing of the head 11 and it has acentral notch 22 adapted to receive the lever when the same is swungdownward to the position shown in Fig. 5. The lever operates as agravity lock for'holding the valve in its closed position and when thelever is in engagement with the notch the opening 8 of the rotary valvemember is out of register with the outlet of the tank.

The valve casing is provided with a steam chamber 23 extending aroundthe valve casing from one side of the same to the other thereof andhaving an outlet 24 at one side and connected at the opposite side withone end 26 of a steam sterilizer pipe 27 which is connected with asuitable source of steam supply (not shown). The steam sterilizer pipe27 is preferably D-shaped cross sectionally as clearly shown in Fig. 1of the drawings so as to lie flat upon the bottom of the sterilizer tankand it is provided with a series of transversely disposed loops orconvolutions made up of transversely disposed parallel portions andreversely ar ranged connecting bends. The pipe forms a substantiallyserpentine passage for the steam which sterilizes the contents of thetank and which, by passing around the valve casing and the rotary valvemember, will prevent the latter from freezing.

The tank is provided at the end oppos te that at which the outlet isarranged wlth clean out openings 28 normally covered by doors or plates29 having cupped centers 30 which are engaged by the terminals 31 of aclamp 32 mounted on a threaded stem 33 and engaged by a nut 34 of thesaid stem. The stem is suitably fixed to and projects horizontally fromthe center of the adjacent end of the casing 1 and its outer portion isthreaded for the reception of said nut. The doors are adapted to beremoved and a hose inserted in the casing for thoroughly washing thesame when necessary.

The casing has a vent pipe or tube 35 which is designed to extendthrough the roof of a car or to any other convenient point whereverinstalled. The vent pipe will carry off the fumes and also the steam orvapor generated by the steam c011 inthe sterilizing of the contents ofthe tank. The

extends through a tube 40 to an indicator casing 41 and is attached toand arranged on a grooved pulley 42. The rooved pulley, which is mountedon a suitable shaft or spindle 43, is also connected to one end of acoiled spring 44 which urges the pulley in one direction for carrying ahand or pointer 45 to a point marked E for indicating when the tank isempty. The indicator casing is provided with a support, 46 to receivethe spindle or shaft and it may have a slotted disk or dial 47. The diskor dial has an arcuate slot 48 located in advance of the pointer orindicator for exposing the same and the ends of the slot are preferablymarked E and F for indicating when the tank is empty or full. Theindicator is lo cated at a convenient point and as the tank fills thefloat will rise and through the connection between the lever and theshaft will swing the indicator hand or pointer away from the point E.The porter or attendant may readily ascertain the condition of the tankand empty the same at the proper place for the disposal of the contents.As the contents are confined until disposed of in this manner thetoilets may be left open at stations insuring greater comfort andconvenience for the traveling public, and at the same time efiectuallyprotecting the ub lic from the contamination resulting rorn the waterclosets in use on ordinary trains.

What is claimed is:

A sterilizer of the character set forth eluding a tank having a taperedend provided with an outlet opening, a valve casing secured to saidtapered end across the outlet opening therein and having in its side anintake opening registering with said outlet opening and having adischarge opening in its lower end, a valve rotatably mounted in saidcasing and having an inlet opening in its side and an outlet opening inits lower end, means by which the valve may be operated, a steam jacketcarried by the valve casing and provided with inlet and outlet openings,and a steam pipe arranged within the casing and having its in let endpassing through the side Wall of the 15 casing and having its dischargeend communicating with the inlet opening of said jacket, said steam pipebeing composed of transverse loops extending back and forth across thetank and throughout the entire 20 length of the tank.

In testimony whereof we alfix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

GEORGE O. WHITNEY. ARTHUR W. IDE. Witnesses:

M. E. RYAN, (101m A. OAREL.

